1.Team by Team Previews
These will be pretty much exactly what you think. I’ll be taking a look at who will be the athletes you see the most of throughout the year. I’m going to try to share their recent histories, their trajectory as an athlete, and what we might expect from them this season. I’ll also try to point out a few younger athletes to keep an eye on for each squad. These might be athletes we see on the World Cup level making their debuts or just a few young men and women that are on their way up…names to remember for future versions of this.
Just a note while I did my best I did not review every athlete that competed for these nations on every level. I did review most everybody on the World Cup level and a strong selection from IBU Cup and Juniors level. However there are an enormous number of athletes that compete every year in IBU events from the Juniors through World Cup. I just don’t have the time or energy to do every single athlete. I did my best though!
Austria is a nation steeped in winter sports tradition. When you think of winter sports and the Winter Olympics its hard not to see Austrians. Almost every winter Austrian fans are assured of having one of the winningest winter sports rosters. The overwhelming majority of this success, though, comes in alpine skiing. Of course this make sense considering Austria is home to some of the most famous ski slopes in the Alps. Fittingly the Österreichischer skiverband is by far and away the all time leader in alpine skiing medals. Continue Reading Austria 2024-2025 Team Preview
While the Czech Republic may not be one of the traditional powers in the biathlon world they seem to never be far behind. While the Norwegians, French, Italians, Germans, and Swedes are powering through the season battling for the top positions in the Nations Cup there is always a small group of nations pushing and fighting just behind them. One of the chief members of this “tier two” group for several years now has been the Czech Republic. While the Czech squad has occasionally risen to a top 3 finishing position it is much more of a rare thing.
Outside of Marketa Davidova the current Czech Republic teams don’t have any super stars that attract international attention. It’s been a few years since the Czech women had their golden generation including Gabriela Koukalova finishing 2nd in the Overall. Even so, they have a number of high quality athletes who are capable of pushing for top 10s (or better). And the relay teams especially have made some noise in the last few seasons. Continue Reading Czechia 2024-2025 Team Preview
I’ve got reindeer and jingle bells dancing in my head. Jolly people singing. Snow. It either means I’m thinking about Christmas…or Finland. In this case, with the holiday season here it could be both! But right now, we’re going to focus on Finland! (I’ve been writing these for I don’t know how long straight now and I’m getting a little loony…can you tell?). When I think about Finland and biathlon of course the first thing that comes to mind (or person as the case may be) is Kaisa Makarainen with 27 wins, 85 podiums, and 6 World Championship medals, and 3 overall Crystal Globes. Not just the best Finnish biathlete ever but one of the greatest of all time. Continue Reading Finland 2024-2025 Team Preview
17 Overall Crystal Globes. 32 Olympic Medals. 130 World Championship medals. While they aren’t one of the traditional founding members of biathlon like Germany or Russia or Norway, France has emerged over the last 20-30 years as one of the great powers. Quinton Fillon Maillet and Julia Simon. Raphael Poiree and Anne Briand. Eric Perrot and Lou Jeanmonnot. Martin Freaking Fourcade! These are some of the names in biathlon. I mean Martin Fourcade is argued about as possibly the greatest of all time. Continue Reading France 2024-2025 Team Preview
When you think of German biathlon what comes to mind first? Is it one of their great athletes like Sven Fischer or Magdalena Neuner? The forests of Oberhof? The Ruhpolding stadium with the fans right on top of the shooting range? Or is the fans, made with biathlon passion? Maybe a little of all of the above?
Germany is inextricably related to biathlon. Looking at the top 100 winners in biathlon history (men and women combined) and over one quarter of them are Germans. So even though the last decade hasn’t been nearly as successful as prior, you just cannot imaging it without the Deutscher Skiverband. Continue Reading Germany 2024-2025 Team Preview
If you ask somebody to rank the top five nations in biathlon today, the rankings will usually go something like: Norway, France, Germany, Sweden, and Italy. The top three are almost always the top three, and then Italy comes in fourth or fifth. Sound about right?
Interesting because of the last 10 Overall titles no nation has more Overall women’s titles than Italy. The men are a different story of course as the Overall has been dominated by Fourcade and JT Boe with a brief Quentin Fillon Maillet interlude. From that angle you would want to put the Italians at least third right? At least amongst the biathlon fans I know it just doesn’t usually go that way.
The way things are shaping up for the Italians they are going to have the opportunity to make an argument to move themselves up the rankings over the next few seasons. Continue Reading Italy 2024-2025 Team Preview
Be honest. When you think of biathlon you think of Norway. How can you not? Okay fine, maybe you first think of Lisa Vittozzi or the legion of French women, or the historical successes of Germany. But inevitably you come to think of the berserker Viking horde that has descended on biathlon over the last couple of decades.
One of the top stories of the last several seasons has been the absolutely crushing dominance of the Norwegian men and the stranglehold they have put on biathlon. From JT Boe making a push to be the greatest biathlete of all time, to regular Norwegian podium sweeps, to the chokehold they put on the IBU Cup. It’s not just the men though, as Tiril Eckhoff and Marte Olsbu Roeiseland recently won Overall Globes and Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold nearly added her name to that list last season. Continue Reading Norway 2024-2025 Team Preview
Sweden shares a border and a friendly, but intense, rivalry with their Norwegian neighbors. It’s a constant competition in everything. While historically one sided, the biathlon battle is starting to heat up! The Swedish women, boosted by the Oeberg sisters, finished ahead of the Norwegian women in the Nation’s Cup in the 2022-2023 season for the first time in a decade. Last year the Norwegian women just edged out their neighbors by 81 points. Meanwhile on the men’s side Sebastian Samuelsson continues to strive to *finally* overtake the Norwegian powerhouse. Every offseason he says the right things, but thus far, the 27 year old hasn’t quite been able to conquer his foes. Continue Reading Sweden 2024-2025 Team Preview
We are in the midst of the best run in the history of Switzerland biathlon. Over the last two seasons the Women’s team has had back to back 6th place finishes in the Nations Cup while the Men finished 5th and 6th the last two seasons. We’ve seen Niklas Hartweg win the u23 Globe in the 22-23 season and then Lena Haecki-Gross had the best season in Swiss biathlon history as she climbed all the way to 6th in the Overall. The established stars are performing. There are some young athletes coming up strong. All things are coming up roses right now for a nation that whose winter sports history has been defined by success in the alpine skiing and not the nordic.
Who can we credit for this? Was it the Benny Weger and Selina Gasparin generation? Is it Sandra Fluger’s new style? Is it just a total attitude shift amongst athletes and coaches? Probably all of the above. After the last two seasons I’m eager and ready to be delighted by this team once again! Continue Reading Switzerland 2024-2025 Team Preview
2. Schedule Preview
November 30 – December 8 in Kontiolahti
December 13 – December 15 in Hochfilzen
December 19 – December 22 in Annecy-le Grand Bornand
January 9 – January 12 in Oberhof
January 15 – January 19 in Ruhpolding
January 23 – January 26 in Antholz
February 12 – February 23 World Championships in Lenzerheide
March 6 – March 9 in Nove Mesto
March 13 – March 16 in Pokljuka
March 21 – March 23 in Oslo Holmenkollen
Maybe it’s the best place to leave a comment – thank you for doing these appetite-whetting summaries! 🙂